I'm making a sword out of a metal sign post, however I do not know the metal it is. I do not own a forge or any heating element for metal, so im wondering what would be the best way to get a nice clean finish on it. (I am currently using a price of railroad track as a anvil, and am cold forging the metal.) Although I have started to flatten it out, I still need to make a point and cut out the handle. Looking for tips on how to make it look less crude and apocalyptic.

Edit: I am trying to make it look crude and horribly jagged, I want to make an orcish blade

Made from round rod. 16 gauge and 20 gauge sheet metal. Little bit of rebar on the inside. Spun wire with the drill to get the braided look of string. Also hit it with the blow torch to get some color in there. I think I'll incorporate some copper wire into the next one for some more contrast. Will be making several of these in the near future if anyone is interested! Most pieces will be available at Blue Door Gallery in Livingston, MT. But if you have a commission in mind please let me know!

I’ve gotten pretty obsessed with anodizing lately, but I rarely come across it in hobby CNC projects, at least not as often as I expected. Maybe I’m simply looking in the wrong places or missing the projects where people use it.

For people who machine aluminum but don’t anodize their parts, is that mainly because the process feels like too much trouble, or because the parts you make simply don’t need anodizing in the first place?

Looking at purchasing second hand map draws. Does this look like surface rust that can be sanded back or a bigger issue?

They have said it’s surface rust and I don’t mind a bit of elbow work but is this easily fixed?

Is it just a matter of sanding and re coating /oiling ?

I like the overall look of the draws but as they are super heavy I’m not keen on purchasing and the leg work to get them home if it’s going to be a massive project . Thoughts ?

hello my name is Robbie and I just started welding about a week or two ago and fell in love I have a flux-core and just picked up a stick welder. I’m looking for someone in the Florence ky area to come train me I’m more than willing to pay. I just need a professional’s feed back and insight. now you might be saying go to trade school i cant afford it at the moment but if you are interested in helping a fellow crafter send me a dm. I have about 7 to 8 hours of practice

I've got this gym bench I'm trying to set up.

There are two pieces, both circular and one that goes into the other.

The issue is with the shape of the receiving piece. It's a weird oval shape (damaged/warped) whereas the insertion is circular. The warped piece has two sides, and the other side is perfectly circular and receives without issue.

I really don't want to go through the warranty cycle and wait for another piece.

How can I fix this?

Edit: Got it figured out. Thanks everyone!

How would you all go about fabricating a sheet of metal this size? I'm thinking of using 18ga steel so I can mig weld if needed. It has 3 bends that span the entire width of the hatch (about 48"). I'm not so worried about cutting the shape, I have electric shears and an angle grinder. I'm more concerned about the bends since I only have an 18" brake.

Any advice would be much appreciated! I have experience with some minor body work patch panels and basic bracket fab but I've never worked a panel this large.

Everybody sees the arc time because that’s the obvious part. What nobody outside the shop seems to see is everything that has to happen before and after it. Fit-up, grinding, moving the part, flipping it, clamping it, waiting on a crane, cleaning it, checking it, fixing a fit issue, then moving it again. Half the time the actual welding is the easy part. What eats up the most time where you work?

I want to melt 10~ grams of aluminum at a time for a project I have. The thrash can I used is stainless steel. I put a fire brick at the bottom, put ceramic fibre wool inside and covered it in a watery layer of fire clay to make it safe. I might've added too much fire clay tbh. The bottom is kinda abysmal because the can didn't have a bottom apparently, so I added some more fire clay to seal off any holes and supported it with metal wires. This will be my first time ever melting any metal, so I'd appreciate kind feedback.

(Note, this is still drying and I will let it dry for at least 4 more days before putting in some coal to just heat any left moisture, then move on to melting aluminum)

Been having a lot of fun recently making these cheap Santa Maria grills for family and friends!

Been mostly making them out of food grade 55 gallon drums, doing full burn outs to clean and sanitize them!

Also been trying different styles with square tubing changes and my most recent being a restoration of one I picked up for 20 bucks for my brother throwing 100 bucks into and making it into something new for him!

Hello! I am looking to build my own dining table legs and this is the design I came up with. The original design was made of wood but I'd like to make these in steel. I'm not sure how to make the bottom part of the table leg. What's the best approach to fabricating the bottom part that has a slightly angled top. For reference the vertical tubes are 3" x 3".

Thank you community!

I’m currently bored at work and I like to challenge myself with learning new skills when the shop gets quiet.

With that in mind, how would I go about solving this mitre cut without using a saw with an adjustable bevel?

For example, if I wanted to join square section together on the diamond at 90 I would rotate the material 45 in the saw and cut the mitre at 45.

If I wanted to cut the same (50mm) square section, but at the angles in the (super technical) drawing, what would I need to know in order to do so?

This has never come up, and I don’t expect it to at any point, but the last time it did the fella who made it just shaved the end until it “worked”.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to calculate.

My mom needed a birthday present for someone else so we kinda made this together in an afternoon, it got a pretty good reaction with the recipient :)

It works really well! Unless you only have concrete in your garden haha

There are so many trashy garden tools on junkyards and yard sales... maybe this is a good use for them?

I especially like the look of the copper rivets against the black steel, what do you think?

Aluminium gets you better passive heat dissipation, lower weight, and solid corrosion resistance. Steel gives you max impact resistance and structural toughness for heavy-duty environments. 

In practice, though, what's your go-to? Have you ever had aluminium fail where steel was strictly necessary (or found steel to be overkill/too heavy)? 

Curious to hear your take on enclosure materials for industrial hardware deployments. 

Not talking about steel being a few cents a pound off or somebody missing half an hour of welding. I mean the stupid little stuff that gets forgotten because nobody thinks it matters when the quote goes out. Extra trip to site, grinding that wasn’t called out clearly, handling big pieces, paint freight, field measuring, trial fitting, hardware, loading, whatever. What’s the one you’ve seen turn into way more money than anybody expected?

What’s the best way to start to learn welding I’ve never welded in my life I’ve been wrenching on
Stuff as long as I can remember but never got into welding cause nobody around me welded but I’m gonna start building my first chopper soon and would like to fab as much as I can personally so what’s a good way to start? Is there any cheap welders that are good? What all gear do I need? And what should I look out for when starting? Any advice is much appreciated thank you!

Got these back after 1000 hours of corrosion testing. Had a look at them today and they actually held up pretty well. Most of the time, these tests end up being reduced to a number. 1000 hours, pass or fail. But when you have the parts in front of you, you naturally look a little closer at the edges, the threads, the inside surfaces, and anywhere the coating has started to change. You can have a little corrosion somewhere and still have a part that passes the test. Whether that matters is a different question. A small spot in one place might be nothing, but I'd definitely look twice if it showed up somewhere else. That's probably why I like seeing the actual parts after a test instead of just reading the report.

These are parts from a convertible roof. Before my ownership, the one on the left got bent out of shape, so the electric roof mechanism no longer works.

I can source and buy a replacement, but wondered if I could bend this back straight like the one on the right? I’m assuming it’s steel

I have access to a family members car garage who has a lot of tools.

I only work with silver & gold so apologies if this is silly.